At the National WWI Museum and Memorial, visitors don’t just learn about history; they step into it. This is exemplified through the Museum and Memorial’s new Encounters exhibit and underpinned by a complete technology refresh of the galleries, creating an innovative storytelling experience.
Encounters is an interactive exhibit that uses immersive technology to bring the Great War to life, sharing the powerful stories of 16 individuals from historical accounts of their diaries, letters and photos to create the characters visitors see on screen. There are 4 characters within the 4 alcoves, allowing the visitor to hear each story.
When a guest approaches an alcove, sensor technology triggers an interactive experience that brings them face-to-face with one of the 16 individuals. As the character approaches the screen, LED light strips positioned to the side begin to flash, creating a life-like shadow effect.
Once the character enters the frame, Christie projectors create a forward shadow, transforming a 2D Nanolumens LED screen into a 3D portal effect as if visitors are looking back into a window of history. Using a HOLOPLOT sound system, Encounters creates an Acoustic Sound Field using 3D Audio-Beamforming and Wave Field Synthesis to create precise sound beams, transforming the way the guests experience sound. The HOLOPLOT sound system is the same one used at The Sphere, and as a result, Encounters is unlike any other museum installation in the world.
As one story concludes, another begins and is masterfully connected by using the ISAAC platform and PIXERA media servers. Guests see one character exit the screen, and then a second character begins their journey into the portal. LED lighting strips begin to flash again, mimicking their silhouette walking through the shadows before their entry onscreen to tell their unique story to invite guests from one alcove to the next.
This seamless storytelling is part of a broader technology refresh across the Museum and Memorial, where upgraded projection, lighting and control systems work together to elevate accessibility and immersion.
At the Kemper Horizons Theater, lightning flashes over a lowered mud-soaked soldiers’ diorama as a story that is projected on a towering screen is walking guests through the conflict, placing them at the edge of a world at war. The media displays the conditions of the trench warfare that was fought by various countries prior to the US’s involvement. Emphasis was placed on the muddy condition that drowned the bodies and souls of soldiers.
Battlescapes descend guests into a recreated crater, placing them in the heart of the battlefield. Surrounding film projections depict the chaos and devastation of World War I as heavy artillery pounds the landscape, explosions ripple through the trenches, and the soldiers running to take cover as the bullets from gunshots surround them.
The crater’s uneven walls and textured surfaces add to the realism, making visitors feel as though they are standing at the front lines. By combining sight, sound, and physical space, the experience immerses audiences in the brutal reality of trench warfare—conveying not only the violence of battle, but also the vulnerability of the soldiers who endured it.
While working on the Battlescapes exhibit, the biggest challenge was to project subtitles onto a crater-textured wall that made the surface unreadable. After countless tests, we found a simple fix in storage: a slab of wood. By mounting it strategically, we created a smooth surface that the 5 projectors could display crisp and clear subtitles. A small, improvised solution ensured every visitor could fully experience the story of the Great War.
The Museum and Memorial set a new standard for immersive cultural experiences. Encounters introduces 16 authentic and recovered personal stories from characters using Nanolumens’ 1.25mm display, the first of its kind in a museum gallery, paired with HOLOPLOT audio for an intimate, innovative encounter.
Horizons Theater immerses visitors in the conditions of trench warfare through dramatic projection, lighting and a life-sized diorama. Battlescapes places guests inside a recreated crater, combining multi-projector film, sound and accessibility-focused design to capture the intensity of artillery combat. Together, these exhibits create an environment where visitors leave with a visceral understanding of the human stories, struggles and realities of the Great War.
Partners
Technology:
- Christie: Projection
- ISAAC: AV Workflow Platform
- Nanolumens: 1.25mm Nixel LED
- Av Stumpfl: PIXERA Media Servers
- HOLOPLOT: Directional Audio
Creative:
- Ralph Applebaum Associates (RAA): Exhibit Design
- Dot Crew: Creative Storytellers, Media Designers
- Technical Artistry: Lighting Design
- JE Dunn: Sets and Scenery
More information about partners
Christie provided specialty projection consistently to provide the media throughout Battlescapes, Kemper Horizon Theater, and Encounters. In the Encounters exhibit, Christie video projectors were used above and in front of each LED display, projecting a forward shadow image of the person and objects from the main screen display as if sunlight was coming through the display or “portal” creating shadows on the floor in front of the display. From a visual perspective, the flat video display is then perceived to appear 3-dimensional and transforms this main image from a standard flat screen image to a “portal” in time.
Nanolumens LED is used to elevate storytelling throughout the Museum and Memorial. Holoplot speakers incorporate directional audio beams in Encounters, an acoustic experience in each alcove that surrounds guests in the exhibit. ISAAC is the AV workflow platform that helped process the data of the Museum and Memorial’s media, which integrated with Pixera as the media servers that communicate for its eventual display to visitors.
There were multiple creative partners that helps display to guests’ footage from the Great War. In the Encounters exhibit, Ralph Applebaum created the media design, the production was done through Dot Crew and the lighting design is by Technical Artistry with fabrication by JE Dunn Construction. Additionally, Richard Lewis Media Group (RLMG) provided interactive content throughout the Museum and Memorial, where guests are involved with the stories and become active participants in the experience, creating a deeper and more memorable connection to the exhibits.
